In my regular club game yesterday with Pauly I picked up this hand:
♠ AK9
♥ AQJ873
♦ 942
♣ 2
Matchpoints, nobody vulnerable, Pauly opened a 15-17 1NT as dealer and I'm immediately at a crossroads. We play Jacoby and Texas transfers, and Key Card Blackwood.
The choices appear to be:
1. Bid 4♦ as a transfer to hearts and then 4NT to check for key cards.
2. Bid 2♦ as a transfer to hearts and then 4♥. Our agreement is a common one, that this sequence is slam invitational but nonforcing, since without slam interest you would use Texas and then pass the response.
3. Bid 2♦ as a transfer to hearts and then 4♣ as a splinter bid. This would require a specific agreement and we don't play splinters anyway, so that was off the table.
I chose #1 but might have chosen #2. We duly reached 6♥ which made easily on a friendly lead. Partner's hand was:
♠ QJ3
♥ 1095
♦ AKJ
♣ AQ32
She also has some interesting choices:
(a) After I place the contract in 6♥, should she convert to 6NT? The hand has no ruffing values and all suits are probably double-stopped, so the case for this seems decent. As the cards lie it would have earned a 100% score instead of 70%.
(b) If I had chosen to just invite slam via sequence #2, should she accept? I think with 17 HCP it's pretty clear to despite the square distribution. But then what would accepting look like? Choices are:
(b)(1) 4NT as Blackwood. This would probably be the most common choice.
(b)(2) 5♣ to show club control and denying spade control. I would then bid 5♦ which is the only call I have left without signing off or committing to slam. It would say that I'm not ruling out slam but I'm still unsure, and therefore this promises the missing spade control and denies diamond control. This is a good example of how sometimes the meaning of a bid must be derived from the logic of the situation and not fixed rules.
How would you and your partner bid this?